According to a report on October 10 on the Chinook news website, the “Mirage 2000” fighter jet of the second wing of the Taiwan Air Force, numbered 2047, crashed on the night of September 10, and the pilot was rescued afterwards. The report said that one month after the crash of the Mirage, the shallow water at the crash site is conducive to recovery. Currently, the Taiwan Air Force has completed a tender for 46.69 million nt yuan (about 10.24 million yuan) , to entrust private companies to carry out salvage, clarify the cause of the accident.
The Air Force is spending T $46.69 m to commission private companies to salvage the Mirage 2000 and clarify the cause of the crash.
According to reports, on the night of September 10, the downed fighter pilot, Shieh Pei-hoon, noticed engine loss in the southwest of the Hsinchu base. At the time, the aircraft’s operating system was normal and it was at an altitude of about 1,000 feet, speed 140 knots; Xie Peixun immediately jump, save lives. After an investigation, the Taiwan Air Force said that on the afternoon of September 10, traces of bird blood were found in the door of the left landing gear and the fuel tank under the left wing of the fighter plane, and determined that the“Phantom” fighter plane had been struck by birds, the chief engineer has climbed into the inner of the airway to check and make sure that the engine blades are normal and meet the standard of dispatch.
The report said that after the accident, the second wing of the Taiwan air force launched the“Cheonan Operation”, checking the important items of each fighter jet, and officially returned to flight on September 24 to continue its mission.
The report also said that the Taiwan Air Force said that the tender had been completed so far, with a total investment of NT $46.69 million, and that it had entrusted Chuanri instrument to carry out the positioning and salvage operations, the Taiwan Air Force has dispatched relevant professionals on board to assist in identifying and salvaging the various components of the fighter. The salvage vessel is currently in Port of Kaohsiung and will continue its work when it is ready.
According to a previous report by the Global Times, this is in fact the ninth major accident of the Taiwan Army’s“Mirage” fighter jet since it entered service in 1997. The United News Network concluded that, the past 8 accidents have caused“5 people killed, 6 machine damage”, whether it should be eliminated caused by the island debate. The Global Times quoted the China Times as saying on September 11 that the Taiwan air force had procured 60“Mirage 2000” fighter jets from France for more than 25 years, the F-16 and the Jingguo, both in service at the same time, have improved their performance, but the Phantom has not. They are faced with reliability degradation and higher failure rates due to the long-term use of components.